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Mission to Mars

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In this activity, learners will learn how to use block coding as they attempt to pick up rock and mineral samples on Mars.

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we have a class set of these already

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Space Exploration - WeDo 2.0 Science - Lesson Plans - LEGO Education

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Design a LEGO prototype of a rover that would be ideal for exploring distant planets.

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To facilitate the use of these resources, Student Achievement Partners has partnered with the Copyright Clearance Center and Xanedu to provide printed sets of these texts that may be purchased. Student Achievement Partners receives no money from these purchases.

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The first earthling to orbit our planet was just two years old, plucked from the streets of Moscow barely more than a week before her historic launch. Her name was Laika. She was a terrier mutt and by all accounts a good dog. Her 1957 flight paved the way for space exploration back when scientists didn't know if spaceflight was lethal for living things.

Humans are explorers. Since before the dawn of civilization, we've been lured over the horizon to find food or more space, to make a profit, or just to see what's beyond those trees or mountains or oceans. Our ability to explore reached new heights-literally-in the last hundred years. Airplanes shortened distances, simplified travel, and showed us Earth from a new perspective. By the middle of the last century, we aimed even higher.

Our first steps into space began as a race between the United States and the former Soviet Union, rivals in a global struggle for power. Laika was followed into orbit four years later by the first human, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin. With Earth orbit achieved, we turned our sights on the moon. The United States landed two astronauts on its stark surface in 1969, and five more manned missions followed. The U.S.'s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched probes to study the solar system. Manned space stations began glittering in the sky. NASA developed reusable spacecraft-space shuttle orbiters-to ferry astronauts and satellites to orbit. Space-travel technology had advanced light-years in just three decades. Gagarin had to parachute from his spaceship after reentry from orbit. The space shuttle leaves orbit at 16,465 miles an hour (26,498 kilometers an hour) and glides to a stop on a runway without using an engine.

Space travel is nothing like in the movies. Getting from A to B requires complex calculations involving inertia and gravity-literally, rocket science-to "slingshot" from planet to planet (or moon) across the solar system. The Voyager mission of the 1970s took advantage of a rare alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune to shave off nearly 20 years of travel time. Space is also dangerous. More than 20 astronauts have died doing their job.

That hasn't stopped people from signing up and blasting off. NASA's shuttle program has ended, but private companies are readying their own space programs. A company called Planetary Resources plans to send robot astronauts to the Asteroid Belt to mine for precious metals. Another company named SpaceX is hoping to land civilian astronauts on Mars-the next human step into the solar system-in 20 years. NASA and other civilian companies are planning their own Mars missions. Maybe you'll be a member of one? Don't forget to bring your dog.

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The first earthling to orbit our planet was just two years old, plucked from the streets of Moscow barely more than a week before her historic launch. Her name was Laika. She was a terrier mutt and by all accounts a good dog.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child

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Improve your students' reading comprehension with ReadWorks. Access thousands of high-quality, free K-12 articles, and create online assignments with them for your students.

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This News from Outer Space collection follows the exciting developments happening in the world of space exploration, from the dwarf planets populating our solar system to improvements being made to the International Space Station.

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> Earth & Space Science > Grades 3-4 > The Solar System

Our solar system is home to Earth and seven other planets. Each planet rotates on its own axis while revolving around the Sun. Every planet has unique characteristics and qualities that set it apart from the rest. The Sun keeps this complex arrangement in order. This unit reveals detailed facts about our Sun and the planets. It also addresses other components of our solar system, including dwarf planets, moons, asteroids, and comets.

FOCUS Books

Supporting Materials
Planets

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Science A-Z Solar System Grades 3-4 Science Unit

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Earth & Space Science > Grades 3-4 > The Solar System Our solar system is home to Earth and seven other planets. Each planet rotates on its own axis while revolving around the Sun. Every planet has unique characteristics and qualities that set it apart from the rest.

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Video of Static Electricty tricks... Provocation?

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Video of Static Electricty tricks... Provocation?

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9 Awesome Science Tricks Using Static Electricity!

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Key concepts
Electricity
Electronics
Insulators
Conductors

Introduction
Have you ever wondered why rubbing a balloon or a blanket-or even a winter hat-on your head makes your hair stand up? The effect is due to static electricity, but how is the static electricity made, and why does it make your hair stand on end?

Static electricity is the buildup of electrical charge in an object. Sometimes static electricity can suddenly discharge, such as when a bolt of lightning flashes through the sky. Other times, static electricity can cause objects to cling to one another. Think of how socks fresh out of the dryer stick together. This happens when objects have opposite charges, positive and negative, which attract. (Objects with the same charges repel one another.) Could enough static electricity make a balloon stick to a wall? How much do you think you would have to rub it?

Background
When one object is rubbed against another, static electricity can be created. This is because the rubbing creates a negative charge that is carried by electrons. The electrons can build up to produce static electricity. For example, when you shuffle your feet across a carpet, you are creating many surface contacts between your feet and the carpet, allowing electrons to transfer to you, thereby building up a static charge on your skin. When you touch another person or an object, you can suddenly discharge the static as an electrical shock.

Similarly, when you rub a balloon on your head it causes opposite static charges to build up both on your hair and the balloon. Consequently, when you pull the balloon slowly away from your head, you can see these two opposite static charges attracting one another and making your hair stand up.

Materials
* Balloon
* An object made out of wool (such as a sweater, scarf, blanket or ball of yarn)
* Stopwatch
* A wall
* A partner (optional)

Preparation
* Blow up the balloon and tie off the end.
* Have your partner prepare to use the stopwatch.

Procedure
* Hold the balloon in a way that your hand covers as little of its surface area as possible, such as by using only your thumb and pointer finger or by gripping the balloon by its neck where it is tied off.
* Rub the balloon on the woolly object once, in one direction.
* Hold the balloon up on the wall with the side that was rubbed against the wool facing the wall, then release it. Does the balloon stay stuck on the wall? If the balloon stays stuck, have your partner immediately start the stopwatch to time how long the balloon remains bound to the wall. If the balloon does not stick, move to the next step.
* Touch the balloon to a metal object. Why do you think this is important to do?
* Repeat the above process but each time increase the number of times you rub the balloon on the woolly object. Rub the balloon in the same direction each time. (Do not rub the balloon back and forth.) How many rubs does it take to make the balloon stick to the wall for a few seconds? What about multiple minutes?
* You can repeat this whole process two more times. Do your observations for each trial match with the previous trials?
* Extra: Does rubbing in one direction give a different result than rubbing back and forth? Try comparing the same number of rubs in one direction with those done back and forth. Does one stay on the wall longer than the other?
* Extra: Try comparing the effectiveness of different materials for producing a static charge. Does rubbing wool work better than rubbing silk? Design an experiment to test several different materials: silk, wool, nylon, polyester, plastic, metal, etcetera.

Observations and results
In general, did the balloon stick to the wall for a longer amount of time as you increased the number of times you rubbed the balloon on the woolly object?

Wool is a conductive material, which means it readily gives away its electrons. Consequently, when you rub a balloon on wool, this causes the electrons to move from the wool to the balloon's surface. The rubbed part of the balloon now has a negative charge. Objects made of rubber, such as the balloon, are electrical insulators, meaning that they resist electric charges flowing through them. This is why only part of the balloon may have a negative charge (where the wool rubbed it) and the rest may remain neutral.

When the balloon has been rubbed enough times to gain a sufficient negative charge, it will be attracted to the wall. Although the wall should normally have a neutral charge, the charges within it can rearrange so that a positively charged area attracts the negatively charged balloon. Because the wall is also an electrical insulator, the charge is not immediately discharged. However, because metal is an electrical conductor, when you rub the balloon against metal the extra electrons in the balloon quickly leave the balloon and move into the metal so the balloon is no longer attracted and does not adhere.

More to explore
"Static Electricity: Learn about Static Charge & Static Shoc k" from Science Made Simple
"The Shocking Truth Behind Static Electricity" from Live Science
"Static Electricity: Background Information for the Teacher" from The Museum of Science, Boston
"Rubbing Up against Static Electricity" from Science Buddies

This activity brought to you in partnership with Science Buddies

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Key concepts Electricity Electronics Insulators Conductors Introduction Have you ever wondered why rubbing a balloon or a blanket-or even a winter hat-on your head makes your hair stand up? The effect is due to static electricity, but how is the static electricity made, and why does it make your hair stand on end?